Fly Guy He rules the World Cup, but can Adam Malysz put an end to 30 years of gold medal futility in the Winter Games for Poland?

The guy making the introductions outside a restaurant in Wisla,Poland, is Jan Poloczek, the town's mayor. He's standing infront of a glass case about the size of a phone booth. Insidethe case, protected from the elements and the hands of hungeringfans, is Adam Malysz (pronounced Mol-Wish), Poland's mostpolished ski jumper. The hometown hero has on gloves, boots anda flying suit emblazoned with more logos than a Formula One racecar. Dangling from his neck is a ribbon; dangling from theribbon, a medal. His features are frozen in a smile; his paleeyes and paler face are as waxy as his skis. Malysz is cast inwhite chocolate.

For Malysz, success has been sweet and soaring. In 2001 heemerged from a three-year funk to win 10 of the last 14 World Cupevents, including the storied Four Hills series in Austria andGermany. At Four Hills he had the highest score and biggestmargin of victory in the event's history. He then took gold (onthe normal hill) and silver (large hill) at the World NordicChampionships in Finland and snared the World Cup title, thefirst for a Polish ski jumper. To his countrymen, Malysz'slanding was as historic as the one Neil Armstrong made on themoon.

With seven victories this season, the 24-year-old Malysz came tothe Olympics with the Pole position in points on the circuit. Hetook bronze in the K90 on Sunday and is considered one of thefavorites in today's K150. "Adam's chance for gold is great, butso is the pressure on him," says Pawel Wlodarezyk, head of thePolish Ski Federation. "He wants our press not to predict he willwin. Bad things can happen."

In Poland bad things often do. Malysz's homeland has a longhistory of being crushed, pillaged, annexed and partitioned. Formore than a century it was wiped clean off the map. The nation'sWinter Olympics credo could be, Expect the worst. Since the flukyvictory of ski jumper Wojciech Fortuna at the 1972 Sapporo Gamesin Japan (his one and only international victory), Poland has notwon a gold medal at the Winter Olympics.

The favorite to snap this drought is 5'6", maybe 120 pounds andthe punch line in hundreds of Polish jokes, many of which havebeen compiled in a popular Polish paperback. Some call Malysz thePolish Batman; others, the Flying Pole. "I don't actually fly, Ijump," he says, helpfully.

Of course ski jumping is not really skiing at all. With one swiftleg snap at the top of the inrun, jumpers drop into the iced rutsof the ramp and plane into the wind. It's kind of like thestanding broad jump but quicker because competitors move fasterand have to time their jumps just right. "When Adam is in goodshape, he has the best takeoff in the sport," says Jens Weissflogof Germany, winner of three Olympic golds in the event. "No legsare more powerful."

Here's a witticism making the rounds: At a Sunday service not farfrom the hometown of Pope John Paul II, a priest asks the kids inhis congregation, Who's the most famous Pole in the world? Inunison they scream, Adam Malysz!

At the recent World Cup meet in Zakopane, Poland, the name ofWisla's favorite son reverberated through the bleachers. "Adam!Adam! Adam!" squealed hundreds of would-be Eves. Says 15-year-oldSylvia Jonek of Krakow, "We love Adam so much! He's simple, justlike us. Not bigger than his shoes."

In fact Malysz's shoes were once too big for him. At six, whileleaping from the lip of a jump, his boots and skis came off inmid-flight. "It was amazing," recalls his father, Jan. "Adam fellto the ground, but his boots and skis kept going."

Malysz's career was not an unfettered ascent or, for that matter,descent. In 1996, at the maddeningly precocious age of 19, he wonhis first World Cup event, beating Weissflog in his finaltournament. By the end of '97 Malysz had two more victories andeight podium finishes.

"Adam was sent to Earth by God to show other competitors how tojump," his former coach Pavel Mikeska once gushed. Austrianenergy-drink maker Red Bull, whose slogan is Red Bull Gives YouWings, had its own divine revelation and signed Malysz to abullish, long-term deal in '95. Trouble is, he didn't live up tothe billing. The decline that began when he placed 51st and 52ndin jumps at the '98 Olympics was as steep as any ramp. Through2000 he had three top 10 finishes, a fourth and two sevenths. Atone point he considered returning to his job as a roofer tosupport his wife, Izabela, and their infant daughter, Karolina.

All kinds of theories were advanced for Malysz's tailspin: He washaving communication problems with Mikeska, a Czech; he washaving psychological problems with fame, fortune and family."When a ski jumper gets married, he loses concentration and threemeters in distance," offers Finnish team coach Mika Kojonkoski."When he has his first child, he loses another three meters. Whenhe becomes a father for the second time, he needs to give it up."

Mikeska took the fall for Malysz's fall and was fired in '99."Pavel was energetic, maybe too energetic," says ApoloniuszTajner, the sedate Wisla sporting-goods store owner who replacedhim. "Adam had to calm down."

Tajner got rid of the skis and suit in question, and to recaptureMalysz's feel for flight, he hired a team psychologist. Theshrink taught Malysz yogalike relaxation exercises and preachedwhat Tajner calls the "cut-off head." The progressive program,now in its third year, involves "leaving your head at home sothat at any moment you can think only of the jump." Beforelearning to sever his skull, Malysz was troubled by a recurringnightmare of tumbling down a ski jump. "Now, Adam does not dreamat all," says Izabela.

To rebuild Malysz's muscle mass, Tajner hired a teamphysiotherapist. Though the particulars of his regimen remainclosely guarded, one detail has slipped out: The staple of hisdiet is not birdseed but bananas and rolls.

More food for thought: The ski jumper with the fattest chance toupend Malysz today was once a borderline anorexic. Last monthGermany's Sven Hannawald--whose radical crash diet in 2000reduced him to what his coach calls the "skeletonallevel"--became the first jumper in the 50-year history of FourHills to win all four legs.

The residents of Wisla aren't worried. The town's world-class icecream emporium, Cukiernia u Janeczki, reports brisk sales of itsciastko mistrza (champion's cake). The three-zloty (75-cent),three-layer pastry is topped by a meringue ski ramp and yetanother Chocolate Adam, this one with skis propped up in aChurchillian V.

"If Adam wins gold medal, will be very nice for Wisla," saysMayor Poloczek. "We may make him gold statue people cannot eat."He mulls the ramifications of this municipal undertaking andmutters: "If gold, more people will want to steal. More problems.Better Adam stays chocolate!"

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